The First Wireless Hack Was a Bunch of Morse Code Spam

In 1901, Guglielmo Marconi was all set to demonstrate wireless transmission in England was going apace. Marconi had many rivals, and a pretty substantial ego. The latter led him to claim that his signals couldn't be interrupted or encroached on. The former led to someone proving him wrong.

As Marconi set up for his big wireless demonstration, a transmission across England via morse code, a signal intrusion occurred. A rival inventor, Nevil Maskelyne, had one message for Marconi: rats, rats. Rats. Also, rats. Then some lines from Shakespeare, and other taunts for Marconi. Tom Scott gets to all the juicy details in the video above.

The moral of the story? Hackers are nothing new. It wasn't invented on BBSes in the 80s, or by Kevin Mitnick or phone phreakers. Basically, as long as there's a technology out there, someone will find a way to exploit it for their own amusement and poke at its weaknesses. But often that's the best way to make tech stronger on more secure. How can you fix it unless you know how it can be broken?

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